UPDATE 19 March 2020: The Guardian is reporting possible 11th hour bids to buy the business
Australian newswire service AAP is to close at the end of June this year after 85 years of supplying content to national and global newspapers, broadcast outlets and digital editions.
CEO Bruce Davidson announced today: ‘The business is no longer viable in the face of increasing free online content’
AAP is owned by Nine, News Corp Australia, The West Australian and Australian Community Media and provides reporting on general news, courts, politics, finance, entertainment, travel, racing and sport, sport results, plus images and video.
Head of Photography Neil Bennett posted his reaction on LinkedIN saying ” The saddest day of my 32 years in the media industry. It has been announced AAP will shutdown in June and Australia will no longer have an independent national news wire service. Nearly 200 journalists will be made redundant.” View their photo coverage.
AAP chairman Campbell Reid described the newswire as Australian “journalism’s first responder”.
“It is a great loss that professional and researched information provided by AAP is being substituted with the un-researched and often inaccurate information that masquerades as real news on the digital platforms,” added Mr Reid, who is also a News Corp executive.
The newswire service has more than 180 staff spread across every Australian state and territory, plus New Zealand, Los Angeles and London. In addition there are about 100 freelance photographers.
Here are their image partners
AAP on posted this notice later in the day: ‘On behalf of everyone at AAP, we thank you for the overwhelming messages of support following up the sad news of AAP’s closing. We are deeply saddened but will continue to do our jobs until the lights go out. To our customers and partners, please bear with us while we work through the details and come up with transition plans. Expect more communication coming soon but please contact us if you have questions.’
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